


The Nightmare Buddy Club

by PurpleWonderPower



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:34:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24839251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleWonderPower/pseuds/PurpleWonderPower
Summary: Luz wakes up from a night terror and seeks solace from Eda and King. Fluff and maternal affection between the Owl House crew.
Relationships: Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda, King & Luz Noceda
Comments: 6
Kudos: 193
Collections: All things Disney





	The Nightmare Buddy Club

Luz gasped out loud as she sat bolt upright in her sleeping bag! Her heart was pounding fast, and she could feel the sweat running down her hot brow. She breathed in and out very shakily as she tried to regain her composure. Putting a shaking hand on her heart, she felt it beating as loud as a drum.

She looked shakily around the room, almost as if to check whether she was where she hoped she still was. She was sitting on her blue and white sleeping bag on a wooden floor among an assortment of boxes, items and a mysterious chest by the door. King was curled up at her feet as usual, hugging his stuffed rabbit doll. Clearly her jolt awake had not awoken him.

Luz breathed a sigh of relief and flopped back onto her pillow, chest heaving but feeling a little calmer. She was safe. It had just been a dream. None of it had happened. Then a deep shudder ran through her, and she turned onto her side, hugging her knees to her chest, afraid to let them go. That had not been nice at all. Luz was no stranger to normal night terrors, but that didn't make it any more pleasant when they happened. She remembered darkness, a few flashes of light and a mockingly cruel laugh chasing her through the darkness before she had awoken with a jolt. She shuddered again and tried to rid her mind of the image. She couldn't quite remember what the rest had been about, but it had no doubt been something terrifying. Something Luz was one hundred percent certain she did not want to remember.

Luz slowly sat up on her sleeping bag, still holding her knees close. It was the dead of night and she could hear the rain lashing against the windowpanes behind her, but she didn't feel like going back to sleep just yet. She was half afraid whatever had been after her might come back for her in another dream. Softly and quietly, she got up and tiptoed across the wooden floorboards towards the door of the room she slept in, being careful not to wake King as she did. Just because she had been uncomfortably awoken from her sleep in the middle of the night, didn't mean he deserved to be.

Being careful to open the door without it creaking, Luz cautiously tiptoed out into the upstairs hallway of the Owl House. Spotting one of the candles that was kept around to give the halls a faint light, she picked it up and headed downstairs.

In the kitchen, she turned on Eda's stove and set some milk in a pan to boil. This was something her mother used to do at home when Luz had a nightmare. Whether the Boiling Isles sold lacto-free milk as a day-to-day product or Eda had taken it from the human world on one of her raids was unknown, but she was glad to find it in the refrigerator. She couldn't ingest regular milk, after all, and somehow she didn't think a glass of water would have sufficed.

Luz hummed quietly to herself in the darkness of the kitchen as she waited for the milk to finish heating up. She had put the stove on low heat so not to wake Eda or King with the sound of loud flames, so it would probably take a little longer than usual. She was so lost in thought as she waited that she didn't hear the slippered feet approaching the kitchen.

There was a click as somebody flicked the light switch and the room immediately lit up, making Luz scream and jump!

"Aah!" she exclaimed, jumping back and bashing into the counter behind her with a wince. She looked up to see a tired-looking witch in a pink cardigan, blue evening skirt and bunny slippers standing in the doorway. "Eda!"

"Luz?" Eda said, rubbing her eyes tiredly, "What are you doing down here? It's the middle of the night."

"Nothing," mumbled Luz, her eyes wavering over to the still-boiling pan on the stove, "Just...c-couldn't sleep. I thought some hot milk might help."

Eda's brows knitted. "Bad dream?" she said, sympathetically.

Luz nodded, sheepishly, scuffing her socked foot on the floor.

Eda sighed. "Well, welcome to the club, kid," she said, with a tired smile, coming over.

"You couldn't sleep either?" Luz asked.

"Nope," answered Eda, tiredly, taking her place beside Luz and adjusting the heat on the pan, "But I'm used to it. Restless nights are kind of a regular thing for me."

"Really?" asked Luz, curiously, "Is that...because of your curse?" She felt slightly nervous about asking that.

"Well...that and other things," Eda confessed, leaning against the counter, "But certainly nothing you should be worried about," she added, crisply, before her voice softened. "How about you? What's your deal?"

Luz pursed her lips and looked down at the floor. "It was just...stuff," she said, quietly, "Scary stuff. I-I didn't feel like going back to sleep right away."

"Been there," Eda said, with a soft chuckle, "Anything you wanna talk about?"

Luz was quiet for a few moments. "No," she said, finally, "N-not really."

Eda gave a light shrug. "OK." She turned to give the milk on the stove a gentle stir, and brought the spoon to her lips to taste a sample. "Are you just making hot milk?"

Luz nodded. "It's what my mom does sometimes when I can't sleep." Although she didn't want to think about sleeping again.

"Hmmm." Eda pursed her lips, eyeing the stove. "I think I know something that might help."

Opening up one of the kitchen cupboards, she looked around for a moment, before taking out a jar of honey and a shaker of what looked like cinnamon. Luz watched as she added a spoonful of honey to the milk on the stove, stirring until it dissolved.

"What are you doing?" asked Luz, curiously, as Eda picked up the cinnamon shaker.

"It's a recipe my parents taught me," said Eda, sprinkling some cinnamon into the pan while stirring it, "It's good for keeping the nightmares away."

Soon, a delicious sweet and cinnamony smell wafted up from the pan, and once it had boiled, Eda poured it into two mugs that they both sipped as they stood there in the kitchen. Though as Eda eyed her apprentice, she could clearly see all was not right in Luz's head. Particularly from the way she was holding herself. Both her arms were clamped around her stomach, and the expression on her face as she looked down at the floor was very anxious, as though she were worried about something waiting to come.

"Hey." Luz felt Eda's bony fingers on her shoulder, and looked up to see the witch studying her. "You sure you're OK?" Eda asked, her eyes showing gentle concern.

Luz hesitated. "I don't know," she said, quietly, looking down into her cup, "I know it wasn't real, but...I've seen some pretty scary stuff since I came here. It's harder to just brush it off as nothing."

"I get that," said Eda, with a soft smile, rubbing Luz's shoulder with her thumb. It was then that she noticed the tiny reddened circles under Luz's eyes. "Have you been crying?" she asked.

Luz touched the red lines below her eyes. They were still a little damp. "A little," she said, quietly, wiping them with her wrist, "I-it just seemed so real, you know? It can be hard to tell until I wake up. And even then it kinda sticks."

"I think we're all familiar with that," admitted Eda, continuing to gently rub Luz's shoulder. The gentle motion was soft and soothing, and made Luz feel a little less tense. "But, hey," she said, comfortingly, "Try not to let it get the best of you. They're just some bad images, and you're a tough kid. I've seen you tackle a lot worse than a bad dream and come out OK." Luz smiled a little as she said that. "Honestly, in the time I've known you, Luz, I think you could get past pretty much anything. And believe it or not, I've seen a lot more crazy stuff around here than you have."

"That's not hard to believe," said Luz, with a small smile, "You kind of get into trouble for breakfast."

They both chuckled, softly.

"In any case," Eda said, with a wry smile, "I think you'll be alright. I watched you take on a warden and a bunch of puppet monsters to help your friends. If you can survive that, I doubt you can't get over a little night terror, kiddo." She rubbed Luz's arm.

Luz blushed a little at the fond nickname Eda had recently taken to calling her by. "Gee," she said, with a small smile, looking down at her beverage, "Thanks, Eda." Luz put her mug down and hugged Eda round the middle, nestling her face in the soft pink wool of her cardigan.

"O-OK, seriously, what is this?" Eda exclaimed as Luz hugged her, "You kids do this all the time and I still have no idea what it is!"

"It's called a hug," Luz said, with a smile, looking up at Eda but not loosening her arms, "It's what people do when they're happy."

"Oh." Eda pursed her lips, pondering the concept. "Not sure if I like it, but...OK." She put one hand around Luz, and with the other, patted the back of her head. She felt Luz smile against her chest and couldn't help but smile too. "Alright, that's enough mush for one night!" she said, pushing Luz off her with a smirk, "Finish up that mug, and then back to bed before you wake..."

"Ahem."

Eda sighed and turned to see the skull-faced doglike demon standing in the kitchen doorway. He held his stuffed rabbit in one paw and was watching them intently.

"Whatcha guys doing?" King asked, curiously.

"Nothing," Eda said, looking over at Luz, "Luz just had a nightmare."

King shuddered! "I had a nightmare once," he said, with a shiver, "I was in a makeup salon wearing lipstick and face powder and all the little kids kept offering me flowers! Brrrr!" He shuddered again, and Luz and Eda laughed. "Horrible!"

"Well, there's room for one more in the nightmare buddy club," Luz said, with a smile, "You want some honey-cinnamon milk? There's still some left over."

"Oh, so is _that_ what that amazing smell is?" King crawled up onto the counter while Luz poured him his own mug. "Ahhh..." he sighed contentedly, swallowing a gulp of the hot, soothing concoction, " _That's_ the spot..."

The three stayed there in the kitchen, drinking their hot beverages in silence, and Luz began to feel much more at ease. Eda's recipe was sweeter and tastier than her mom's hot milk, and the heat warmed her stomach from the inside. But the thing that really made Luz feel better was being near her friends. Eda and King were both quirky and strange, but it was just that that made her comfortable around them. She didn't have to try and be part of a pack like back at home or try and act like someone she wasn't. She could just be herself around them. That came in handy at times like this. She didn't feel afraid anymore, and part of her knew she was glad to be with them at this time.

Luz drained the last of the sweet and tasty concoction from her mug and put it down on the counter. "Mmmm," she said, approvingly, "I think I do feel better. Your recipe is good, Eda."

"Mmmmm!" King declared, finishing off his cup and patting his stomach, "My tummy-tum agrees!"

"Glad to hear it," Eda replied, putting her own mug down, "Now off to bed with both of you! We've got a busy day of trash collecting tomorrow, and I _cannot_ have you two sleeping on the job!" She gave Luz a light push towards the door, followed by King, who yawned as he followed Luz up the staircase.

Back in her makeshift bedroom, Luz lay back down on her sleeping bag in a comfortable position, while King curled up by her feet with his doll. She felt a little better from the hot milk and reassurance from her friends, but she was still a little nervous about reentering the slumber that had tormented her with night terrors only a few minutes ago. The remnants of her nightmare still lingered in her mind, and she did not want to go back to that.

"Um...h-hey Luz?" a timid voice said, and Luz opened her eyes to see King crawling up to her eye level with a somewhat concerned look on his face. "D-do you want to hug me?" he asked, "As you go to sleep? That way we can protect each other from any nightmares." He held out his tiny arms.

Luz felt her eyes well up a little, and she was sure her heart was about to burst. "Awwww!" she cooed, as King crawled up to her, gathering him in her arms and cuddling him close, "King, you are such a cutie-wootie little sweetie-pie!" she cooed, snuggling with him in her arms, feeling his soft, warm body against her chest.

"Already regretting this," sighed King, as he was cuddled mercilessly, before curling up in Luz's arms and closing his eyes too. The soft feeling of his chest moving against hers was comforting to Luz as she dropped off, King clutched tightly in her arms.

Eda yawned as she climbed the stairs. She stopped for a moment to scratch at an itch on her side, before carrying on. Eda never enjoyed the night. Peaceful rest was not something she had the pleasure of experiencing very often. She sympathised for Luz, having to fight with her own night terrors as she slept, but in truth, those were nothing compared to the demons that roamed free in Eda's sleep.

The witch rubbed her eyes tiredly as she reached the top of the staircase and put the candle Luz had used back in its place. Well. Time to go back to her nest and get as much sleep as she could before tomorrow. Before she did, though, she passed by Luz's room and opened the door to take a quick peek inside. A fond smile crawled onto her face at the sight of Luz and King snuggled up together on Luz's sleeping bag, smiles on both their faces as they slept.

"Sweet little kid," Eda said softly to herself as she closed the door, before turning and heading back to her own room.

And as for Luz, well, let's just say she would not have to worry about having any more nightmares tonight. No matter how the wind howled and the rain lashed against the windowpanes, Luz had two friends nearby, who would keep her safe. She knew they would.


End file.
